Govt to build maize store in Nyagatare

NYAGATARE – The Ministry of Agriculture plans to build a maize store in Nyagatare district to facilitate farmers’ storage needs. The facility with capacity to store 10, 000 tonnes of produce could be operational in six months’ time, according to Agriculture Minister, Dr. Agnes Kalibata. “This store will enable you keep your maize harvests. But you also need to increase your production in order to put it to optimum use,” she told farmers at PDRCIU headquarters in Nyagatare sector on Monday. The Minister told farmers that despite their bumper harvest this season, agricultural level of productivity is still very low. “You still need to put more efforts to uplift the district’s production capacity,” she said. The Minister also advised farmers to always be careful when selling their harvests if they are to avoid being cheated by unscrupulous traders. “The Ministry of Agriculture revised farmers’ maize prices and set Rwf120 as the initial price per kilogramme a farmer should sell at,” she added. “We ask farmers not to sell their maize below this price and the government has already accepted to buy for them.” Ends